Blog about sports and politics and whatever else seems interesting from a guy (formerly) in Mexico.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Planning His Exit

Javier Aguirre says that after the World Cup is over, he's leaving his job as Mexico's national coach and heading back to Europe. I thought this was a mild dig at the appeal of the job and an expression for his preference futbolística for Europe, but in fact it was a rather direct shot at Mexico's security problems. So says the coach:

[Violence] has permeated the society, without a doubt, I remember 20 or 25 years ago when I still played football drug traffickers were active, but they took care of business between themselves, today you can't walk around calmly because suddenly there are problems and you are caught in the middle, I'm of course someone known, respected, but one never knows.

I hope that doesn't mean he's planning on Mexico not performing well, because that really would endanger his wellbeing. Everyone enjoys the right to feel safe in their everyday existence, but you have to wonder if Aguirre could have handled this in a way that didn't tar the image of his country. The hysterical newspaper openers all but write themselves:

The violence has now grown to the point that even a revered figure like the national team soccer coach is voluntarily exiling himself.